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Originally posted by hoosier
Interestingly, the Wash Post required the reporters to get a second source to confirm everything "Deep throat" told them.
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Not true, according to Ben Bradlee. Bradlee has stated that he was a "single source," that it was not usual Post policy to go without a corroborating source, but that DT had earned their trust and confidence.
But then, you have to remember that much of the info that Woodward got from DT was not information that was used directly, but suggestions about where to look or where not to look, or info to confirm or refute what they W&B were hearing elsewhere.
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It's going to get nasty.
Woodward and Bernstein (and the Wash. Post) got rich and famous, while the Felt family got nothing.
Today, in their statement, W, B, and the Wash. Post say Felt was one of a number of anonymous sources, and this is going to P.O. the Felts.
By the end of June, they'll only be speaking to lawyers.
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Nah. Neither W&B nor the Post have ever said that DT was the only source, just that he was a highly placed, anonymous source of very good info.
All the President's Men makes clear he wasn't the only source.
And the statement I have seen from the Post says: "W. Mark Felt was 'Deep Throat' and helped us immeasurably in our Watergate coverage. However, as the record shows, many other sources and officials assisted us and other reporters for the hundreds of stories that were written in The Washington Post about Watergate." I don't see anything about "a number of anonymous sources."
Why should Felt or his family be be mad about "getting nothing"? He got exactly what he asked for and was promised -- anonymity.
Why should they be mad about suggestions there were other sources as well, since that's never been a secret?
Anyway, it's kind of late to be talking to lawyers about something that happened 30 years ago. Felt made his choice then, now he and his family have to live with it.
ETA: I do see in various reports that money from hoped-for book and movie/TV deals was a prime reason that Felt's family got him to go public now. Sad if that's true.